Summary Neuroeconomics
1. CRASH COURSE NEUROECONOMICS
The Brain: Global Anatomy
Main areas:
1. Hindbrain (brain stem) – this sits beneath your cerebrum in front of
your cerebellum. It connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls
automatic functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood
pressure. Responsible for things you never think about, like breathing.
Motor and sensory systems;
Regulation of cardiac and respiratory functions.
2. Cerebellum – sits at the back of your head, under the cerebrum. It
controls coordination and balance. So fine motor control and learning
(e.g., timing of movements), next to this also responsible for decision
making, but we don’t know much about that yet. A sort of second
brain;
3. Cerebrum – fills up most of your skull. It is involved in remembering,
problem solving, thinking and feeling. It also controls movement. It is
subdivided intro frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes.
Responsible for higher-order cognition. The little black lines you see in the picture are
the gyrus and sulcus. Animals that are older than humans have ‘smooth’ brains. Our
brain folded in to itself, so it fitted in our skull.
Cerebrum
The cortex is divided in 2 hemispheres, those communicate via corpus
callosum. Most structures are bilateral. Few functions are lateralized
(more dominant in one hemisphere). Left is language and a little bit of logic,
positive emotion. Right is creativity, spatial and negative emotion. So
almost everything is parallel in the brain. If you have brain damage, your
brain can reorganize.
Cortex: Frontal Lobe
This is the part of the brain that really distinguish us from other animals
that also have brains. It is involved in really high-order cognitive processes.
Executive functions like thinking and reasoning a.k.a. organization and
regulation. Social behaviour is in the dmPFC, valuation in the vmPFC, and
motor skills in the primary motor cortex. Damage may lead for example to
increased risk-taking or greater impulsivity.
Organization: attention, planning, sequencing, problem solving, working
memory, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, rule acquisition, selecting
relevant sensory information.
Regulation: initiation of action, self-control, emotional regulation,
monitoring internal and external stimuli, initiating and inhibiting context-
specific behaviour, moral reasoning, decision-making.
The primary motor cortex is also called the motor
homunculus/homunculi I.
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1. CRASH COURSE NEUROECONOMICS
The Brain: Global Anatomy
Main areas:
1. Hindbrain (brain stem) – this sits beneath your cerebrum in front of
your cerebellum. It connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls
automatic functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood
pressure. Responsible for things you never think about, like breathing.
Motor and sensory systems;
Regulation of cardiac and respiratory functions.
2. Cerebellum – sits at the back of your head, under the cerebrum. It
controls coordination and balance. So fine motor control and learning
(e.g., timing of movements), next to this also responsible for decision
making, but we don’t know much about that yet. A sort of second
brain;
3. Cerebrum – fills up most of your skull. It is involved in remembering,
problem solving, thinking and feeling. It also controls movement. It is
subdivided intro frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes.
Responsible for higher-order cognition. The little black lines you see in the picture are
the gyrus and sulcus. Animals that are older than humans have ‘smooth’ brains. Our
brain folded in to itself, so it fitted in our skull.
Cerebrum
The cortex is divided in 2 hemispheres, those communicate via corpus
callosum. Most structures are bilateral. Few functions are lateralized
(more dominant in one hemisphere). Left is language and a little bit of logic,
positive emotion. Right is creativity, spatial and negative emotion. So
almost everything is parallel in the brain. If you have brain damage, your
brain can reorganize.
Cortex: Frontal Lobe
This is the part of the brain that really distinguish us from other animals
that also have brains. It is involved in really high-order cognitive processes.
Executive functions like thinking and reasoning a.k.a. organization and
regulation. Social behaviour is in the dmPFC, valuation in the vmPFC, and
motor skills in the primary motor cortex. Damage may lead for example to
increased risk-taking or greater impulsivity.
Organization: attention, planning, sequencing, problem solving, working
memory, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, rule acquisition, selecting
relevant sensory information.
Regulation: initiation of action, self-control, emotional regulation,
monitoring internal and external stimuli, initiating and inhibiting context-
specific behaviour, moral reasoning, decision-making.
The primary motor cortex is also called the motor
homunculus/homunculi I.
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